“His spirit will be felt, absolutely,” said Shekar Viswanathan, president of the nonprofit Indian Fine Arts Academy San Diego, under whose auspices the festival is presented.

“We plan the festival each year about nine months in advance, and we would always ask him and his wife, Sukanya, for input about what type of artists we should bring. He was very specific, even a few months before he passed away, and we did exactly what he wanted. Now is no exception, except this year it’s a memorial concert.”

The festival, which began Tuesday and concludes Sunday, is at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center’s David & Dorothea Garfield Auditorium in La Jolla. Two concerts will be held Friday night, while the festival runs Saturday from 8 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. and Sunday from 8:45 a.m. to 9 p.m., with multiple performances each day.

Shankar will be honored onstage and in video montages throughout the weekend, as befits a borders-leaping music giant whose legacy extends from Indian classical music to The Beatles, Woodstock and far, far beyond.

“His mastery of both Eastern and Western traditions, his tireless activities in teaching and collaboration, as well as his musical thought and the generosity of his spirit, have had an unprecedented and global impact on music today,” said famed composer Philip Glass, a former Shankar student and collaborator.

“It may be hard to imagine that one person — through the force of his talent, energy and musical personality — almost single-handedly altered the course of contemporary music, in its broadest sense. But that is actually and simply what happened.”

For Shekar, Shankar’s impact was universal and personal.

The Indian Music & Dance Festival, which is scheduled each year to coincide as closely as possible with Shankar’s birthday, and the Indian Fine Arts Academy San Diego are each inspired in part by Shankar. Moreover, the festival and the academy both benefited from his enthusiastic support behind the scenes.

“His willingness to generously share his vast knowledge, and to encourage young and talented artists, created an inimitable allure that attracted artists and patrons alike to participate in our academy,” Shekar said. “His passing represents a tremendous loss to us and to the music world.”

Festival performers this weekend include Shankar’s sister-in-law, noted Hindustani singer Lakshmi Shankar, 86, who regularly performed with him. Also appearing is Bengali vocal star Ajoy Chakrabarty, who has composed several new songs in Ravi Shankar’s honor for the festival. (For the full lineup, see the festival's website.)

The lineup also boasts Calcutta-based tabla great Tanmoy Bose, a regular musical partner of Shankar’s for much of the past decade. He plays on Shankar’s recent album “The Living Room Sessions Part 1,” which on Feb. 10 won the Best World Music Album Grammy Award.

The Grammy, Shankar’s third, was accepted by his daughter, sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar, 31. A day earlier, she and Shankar’s other daughter, singer-songwriter Norah Jones, accepted his posthumously presented Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.

“Sukanya flew back from India this week to attend the festival,” Shekar said. “Anoushka has promised to perform for us next year, because she couldn’t do it this year. Of course, it is bittersweet, since we had invited him and hoped he would be able to attend.”